TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines - There are no reported cases of measles yet in the city said the City Health Officer of Tacloban, after reported outbreaks of the highly-infectious disease in areas of Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

According to the monitoring of the City Health Office, however, the number of children who have received measles vaccine are low.

For the year 2009, city health officials targeted 95 percent of the children to be vaccinated but admitted that were only able to reach 75 percent.

This is lower compared to 2008 when they were able to vaccinate 94 percent of the number of children that were targeted in the vaccination program.

Due to this, the city health officials said they will be mapping out various barangays in the city that will be targeted for the vaccination campaign.

"We will do it on the earlier part of March, we will give free measles vaccine to those who have not submitted themselves for this vaccine," said Dr. Jaime Opinion, City Health Officer.

The city health office also said they have been receiving reports of cases of sore eyes and chicken pox. Officials said this may be due to the early onset of summer because of the El Niño phenomenon.

Opinion advised the public to drink plenty of water and bring protective gear when under the steaming heat of the sun.

"And of course, if they feel that they have fever, they should see a doctor immediately and not do take medicines by themselves especially if they have symptoms of measles or chicken pox," Opinion added.